KNH moves to ease suffering of patients

Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH). A team headed by KNH director Richard Lesiyampe said the government has set aside Sh300 million to upgrade cancer equipment. Photo/FILE  NATION MEDIA GROUP

By SAMUEL SIRINGI ssiringi@ke.nationmedia.com

IN SUMMARY

• Hospital establishes chemotherapy centre and buys dialysis machines
• Management wants health centres equipped to deal with ailments to reduce numbers

The management of Kenyatta National Hospital has moved to address some of the findings of a government audit that revealed the agony of cancer, heart and kidney patients seeking treatment at the referral facility.

In its response to the auditor-general’s report, the management said the hospital had established a daycare centre to offer chemotheraphy services.

The team headed by KNH director Richard Lesiyampe also said the government had set aside Sh300 million to upgrade cancer equipment.

Additionally, the management says in a response appended to the main report, that two doctors are undergoing oncology training in South Africa.

The hospital also said three additional dialysis machines have been bought to ease the crisis.

Life-threatening

The performance audit report conducted by the office of Auditor-General Edward Ouko established that patients of the three life-threatening conditions wait for more than two months before they can be attended to by medical specialists.

According to the audit, patients diagnosed with cancer wait for an average of 63 days to get an appointment with a clinical specialist for the first time.

But cancer patients booked for radiotherapy sessions wait for a whole four months before they can attend their first session, a situation that means immense pain and suffering for the affected people, many of them poor.

On Monday, Mr Lesiyampe said the hospital was facing the challenge of attending to too many patients.

“I hope that at least one hospital in each county can be equipped to attend to these patients,” Mr Lesiyampe said, adding that doctors were doing a commendable job despite the challenges.

However, he agreed that many patients wait for long to be attended to and that patients referred to the Renal Unit do not access dialysis services as often as they are supposed to.